I Have Never Been More Wrong About a Baseball Player Than I Was About Pete Crow-Armstrong
GQ did an awesome article on Pete Crow-Armstrong that I read on a flight last night after the All-Star Game wrapped up. When I finished reading it, it occurred to me that I am an idiot and really don't know anything. I don't think I could have been more wrong about this kid, and I don't think I've ever been more wrong about a player before. A very, very humbling moment at 30,000 feet.
I've been meaning to write this for a couple of months now. In March and April I figured, "Kids just hot. He'll come back down to Earth when the pitchers catch up." But he didn't. And he hasn't. His numbers continue to become increasingly preposterous.
I’m man enough to admit when I’m wrong. But rarely in my life have I been this wrong. Monumentally wrong. Like, “let’s go ahead and permanently revoke my baseball opinion license,” wrong.
When the Cubs traded Javier Báez for Pete Crow-Armstrong back in 2021, I was furious. I thought they’d just traded one of the most electric, exciting players to ever put on a Cubs uniform, a human highlight reel with a World Series ring, for some scrawny, injured, unproven outfielder whose biggest achievement at that point was being able to walk around with a last name that sounded like a law firm.
I ranted about it to anyone who would listen. I figured he;d better enjoy South Bend, buddy. The move was sure to blow up in Jed and co.'s faces.
Fast forward to today, and not only has it not blown up, but it might go down as one of the best Cubs trades of the last 20 years.
Pete Crow-Armstrong (PCA if you’re cool, which I clearly am not) is now that dude. He’s a first-time All-Star (starter), an MVP frontrunner, and flat-out one of the best players in baseball. The Cubs didn’t just win that trade. They pulled off a goddamn diamond heist at noon in Times Square and walked away whistling.
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And the best part might be that PCA’s also just a great kid.
Reading that GQ profile on him feels like someone took the perfect Gen Z baseball star, put him through some LA hipster, child-of-Hollywood-freakshow blender, and out came this electric, self-deprecating, effortlessly cool phenom. And he was obviously raised extremely well by his parents.
Chicago Tribune - On a sweltering morning at Wrigley Field, hours before the Chicago Cubs’ 8-6 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, the daily pregame meeting of ushers and security guards was interrupted by a guest speaker who needed no introduction.
Pete Crow-Armstrong ambled up to the mic and held it like he was giving a toast at his best friend’s wedding.
“You guys go through the same 162-game season we do, in a way,” Crow-Armstrong told the ballpark employees. “You do so much for us in terms of our families and people that matter to me and my teammates. First and foremost, that’s one of the more important things I recognize when we think about you guys and the work that you do. And I know it’s been so hot recently, and I just appreciate you guys on a daily basis being out there with us, and doing a lot of work … You guys are the best.”
Crow-Armstrong told the workers they helped make Wrigley the special place it is, and thanked them for the conversations and relationships he’s developed in his young career. He even agreed to go to dinner with one of them. When the brief speech ended, Crow-Armstrong received an ovation, and one usher was brought to tears.
Now that is class.
Let’s break this down in easy to digest facts. PCA was a first-round pick by the Mets in 2020. He showed up late to his first COVID test, wearing shorts and a tank top he slept in. (Relatable king.) He almost got himself benched day one because he was an 18-year-old dumbass. He immediately blew out his shoulder after six professional games, and was traded mid-sling for a Cubs legend. He could’ve sulked, could’ve blamed the Mets, but nope. He owned it. Zero bitterness.
That alone should’ve tipped me off that this kid had something different in his DNA.
But PCA didn’t just bounce back. He's evolved. What scouts saw as a “speedy slap hitter” suddenly morphed into a power-speed unicorn.
This year alone, he became the only player in MLB history to hit 25 homers, steal 25 bases, and rack up 70 RBIs before the All-Star break. Read that again. This kid is doing things Ohtani, Tatis, and Acuña haven’t done.
That is bonkers.
And he’s doing it all with bleach-blond hair and blue stars dyed on his head. Casually dropping “dude” 20 times an hour, while dating his rocket-launcher girlfriend, that he met at Vanessa Hudgens’ wedding in Tulum.
Like, come on. You can’t even make that up.
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PCA has Wrigley buzzing in a way I haven’t seen since 2016. Every week, he’s a human highlight reel- scaling walls, crashing into gaps, hitting moonshots, and playing with the kind of swagger and joy that makes you remember why you love baseball in the first place.
As I wrote, he's been doing this all since opening day, and he deserved the mea culpa/appreciation blog way before the All-Star break. But I couldn't see it. Because I was clinging to the memory of Javy Báez and of that 2016 magic. Of “El Mago” doing things no one else could do. I wasn’t ready to move on. And I definitely wasn’t ready for some Cali kid with actor parents (yes, his mom was in Little Big League) to become Chicago’s new baseball obsession.
But that’s exactly what’s happened.
PCA isn’t just good. He’s really fucking special. He’s the kind of player you build franchises around. He’s the kind of guy kids line up to watch take batting practice. The kind that old heads compare to past legends. The kind that makes Wrigley feel alive in July when it’s 95 degrees and the Budweiser bleachers are sizzling.
He truly does it all too. He's incredible in the field. Talking possibly the best centerfielder in baseball.
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He's a beast at the plate.
And he's a fucking menace on the basebaths.
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And if you're one of those losers obsessed with advanced stats and metrics that are ruining the game, he's got you pegged on that too.
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ANd he’s Chicago now. Fully.
And as for me? I’m eating crow. Literally and figuratively. I was wrong. So goddamn wrong.
Pete Crow-Armstrong, I’m sorry. Cubs front office, I’m sorry. Jed Hoyer, I'm sorry. Chicago, I’m sorry.
(That's me. I'm the idiot sandwich.)
p.s. - speaking of Javy Baez, it's been awesome to see him bounce back so strong. They're calling it a "career renaissance", but I think it just shows the importance of good leadership and coaching. Scott Harris is an absolute genius who sees things in players the average idiot doesn't, and knows how to get the most out of them by putting the right people around them, and putting them in positions to succeed. Detroit is lucky to have them both.